Bulldogs continue to gain momentum with another win

Momentum is huge in any sport.

Basketball is no exception, and following Friday’s 78-60 victory over North Florida, senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim feels the Bulldogs-winners of seven straight-definitely have that.

“I think we have a lot of momentum. I think we’re in a good place,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I think we’re doing a good job of competing. We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding, and defending, but I think we’re doing a good job so far.”

Playing its second game in three days, Abdur-Rahim once again had a key role in the victory for the Bulldogs (9-3).

The senior scored 18 points-all in the first half-to lead what was otherwise a balanced offensive effort for Georgia, finishing with 11 players in the scoring column.

Georgia also converted a season-high 11 three-point attempts, five courtesy of Abdur-Rahim.

Noah Thomasson chipped in with 10 points, while point guard Silas Demary Jr. scored just five points, but chipped in with a team-high six assists and zero turnovers.

“He’s making people around him better, making solid decisions, making better decisions for a freshman,” head coach Mike White said. “He’s got great poise, physical toughness, and he’s about winning. It’s often like this when he’s very efficient. He is usually positive in the plus-minus, and just a solid player. He’s only going to get better.”

There were areas of concern, specifically the fact that the Ospreys attempted 42 three-pointers, converting 12.

“That’s all we talked about for 48 hours, drilling it, talking about it, watching it on film and they still get 42 attempts off,” White said. “They’re really good. They space you, they run great stuff, they also pass it well. Thank God they missed a few for us.”

That was not the case early on.

North Florida used a pair of threes to put Georgia in a quick 8-0 hole, before the Bulldogs recovered to play one of their better halves of the year.

Once again, it was Abdur-Rahim who could not be stopped.

After scoring 21 first-half points Wednesday against Mount St. Mary’s, the senior scored 18 in the first 20 minutes against North Florida. Fifteen of those points came on five three-pointers by Abdur-Rahim, as Georgia made all seven of its attempts.

“We have a lot of good shooters,” Abdur-Rahim said. “We have a lot of aggressive players and a lot of confident players. We’re going to have nights like this.”

Back-to-back threes by Abdur-Rahim sparked a 17-0 run by the Bulldogs, who scored the final eight points of the half to go into the locker room up 45-29.

“(Abdur-Rahim) found his range for all of us,” White said. “He really went off there in the first half. I thought the other guys did a good job of finding him. He did a good job of moving without the ball, and he’s got a quick, high release, made some shots and got us going.”

One of Georgia’s other threes came courtesy of true freshman Dylan James, playing for the first time in eight games.

The career first by James was his only highlight on the afternoon. Having the opportunity to be on the court at the same time as his older brother Dylan also qualified.

A redshirt freshman for the Ospreys, Dorian James scored eight points in 25-plus minutes.

“He’s strung together some quality practices for us pretty consistently now. It was my goal the last couple (of games) to get him in there and give him an opportunity to evaluate. We’re trying to win, we’re trying to put our best guys out there, and he’s earned the opportunity, and he took advantage today. I thought he was really good. He was plus-15 in 15-17 minutes, was efficient, played within himself. For his first time getting playing time in a while, I thought that was really impressive.”

Boxscore

• The Bulldogs will break for Christmas before returning to Athens early next week to prepare for their next game on Dec. 30 against Alabama A&M.

• Walk-ons Brandon Klatsky and Jaden Newell saw their first action, playing the final 2:17 of the game. Neither played scored, although Klatsky just missed a three-pointer. Newell did not score but recorded a rebound.

• The Bulldogs recorded a season-high 21 assists on 27 made field goals. Georgia’s 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio is its best of the season.

• Georgia connected on all its first eight attempts from 3-point range in the game.

• For the 11th time in 12 games this season and the 33rd time under Coach White, Georgia outscored its opponent in bench points, 35-18.

• The Bulldogs held the Ospreys to just 60 points, their lowest-scoring total of the season.

• Abdur-Rahim tied his career best of five 3-pointers for the third time, connecting on all of his first five attempts.